Last night was the second of 10 Alpha sessions. The topic for the talk was "Why did Jesus have to die?" The good news is that lots of new people came, some Sunday church-goers but even more folks who haven't darkened the door of an evangelical church before. "Evangelical," by the way, is everything that isn't Catholic. And actually, they all are pretty much evangelical. You almost never see mainline Protestant denominations here.

Anyway, the bad news is that the awkwardness was excruciating. This has generally been true in our experience, that the first three nights of Alpha are awkward. Part of it is Peruvian culture. It seems that it's more acceptable to sit silently eating your food and staring at the floor than it is to ask the person next to you what their name is.

During the discussion time, the leader of our particular group seemed not to have grasped the jist of what Alpha group time is all about. He did a lot of instruction and for talked as though everyone in the group had the same beliefs and experiences he had, despite the fact that the majority of our group was new to the church and Alpha last night. His questions were awkward, and he seemed to answer them all himself, in an awkward way of course.

I will admit that part of this awkwardness was me. I cringe during awkward scenes in movies. Last night it was all I could do to stay in my chair and not run away. I'd love to have the inner stability to accept all this, but I'm just not there yet.

More good news? God is bigger than any awkwardness and can definitely work in spite of it. I'm counting on that!